RuPaul’s Drag Race current crowned queen, 22 year old Aquaria, spoke out against Liverpool club Heaven via Twitter in a (now deleted) tweet story that really rips into the way the club is run!

The series of tweets in full stated:
“Change of schedule tonight… was headed with friends to Heaven in LIVERPOOL and was EXTREMELY HARASSED and humiliated by the HEINOUS security dude for even attempting to come into the venue wearing my everyday Adidas “trackies” which he insisted was against the dress code at the Pathetic establishment“

“Which basically translates to me that anyone wearing any sportswear (which is usually minority driven) is not allowed entrance regardless to the amount of money they wish to spend at the venue,“

“I was told by many people from this city that if I was a complacent little person and “sincerely apologized” that I would be let in but even after apologizing to the horrendous staff they continued to insist that my adidas joggers were completely atrocious to wear in their pathetic venue.“

Aquaria – appearing as his everyday male self Giovanni rather than in drag – attempted entry into the club and was refused entry by the doormen for wearing Adidas tracksuit bottoms before tweeting her opinion on the 11^th November. Scouse drag queen The Vivienne replied to tweets with:
“on behalf of the ‘trash’ and ‘dumper’ clubs of Liverpool, my home. Feel free to never go back there. The rules are there for a reason, nobody is above them. The doormen of OUR city are the ones keeping US safe!!! Entitled much?“

From my opinion, my first reaction was the same as The Vivienne’s, that Aquaria came across as entitled – as of course you’d be refused entry to a club in trackies! Like why would you even try? But then again, I am British, and this is a British culture, that you unable to enter into most clubs wearing sportswear.

Aquaria claimed it was discrimination, but I didn’t feel it was. I have never attended the club in question, or felt personally ever discriminated by a doorman… although have been refused entry for being too intoxicated *cough* but that’s another ballgame.

After reading more about the incident, I felt that it was less of Aquaria being entitled but more of a cultural difference, that in the US perhaps doormen suddenly propose ‘dress codes’ to refuse entry into premises against certain minorities. I am not from the US so feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Here in the UK however, for me it was like DUH of course you won’t get into a club wearing any sportswear, like why were you trying? It’s the British culture, you don’t wear tracksuit bottoms into a club and you need to respect other countries’ cultures. When I visit the US, I have to tip a lot more than the norm here in the UK, and I do this because it is the cultural norm to tip in the US and I am a guest in their country, so I will respect that and follow their culture. I don’t then go onto Twitter to express my disdain for this for being different from the norms in the UK, despite my personal opinions on it.

All said, I feel this turned into a mess for Aquaria. Having grown up in an environment where a dress code often represents discrimination towards certain minorities to a country where it is the norm for all, it could be confusing and she did eventually attempt to make amends, saying:
“I’d like to apologize for not understanding this country’s history of athletic wear“

I certainly believe that the doorman could have been a lot more polite and patient with explaining to her that it is culturally normal in the UK.

Was Aquaria out of line for reacting the way she did? Did the doorman provoke her reaction? Should clubs allow trackies? Let me know what you think!

1